Traveling brick-machine



(N0 Model.) 3 Sheets-Sh eet 1.

H. STELZMANN.

TRAVELING'BRIG K MACHINE.

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' ATTORNEYS N. PETERS. Fmwumo n hcn Wnhingtun. D, c

2 b e 8 r S. w e e h S 3 N N A M Z L E T S H m d o 0 W TRAVELING BRICK MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 1, 1884.

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N. PUERS. Photo-Lithogmphin Waahinglon. 11c.

3 Shee'tsSheet 3.

(No Model.)

STELZMANN.

TRAVELING BRIGK MACHINE.

No. 296,082.' Patented Apr. 1 1884 ATTORNEY-8..

U ITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

HENRY STELZ MANN, OF LEEOH LAKE, MINNESOTA.

TRAVELING BRICK-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,082, dated April 1, 1884.

7 Application filed June 26, 1883. (No model.)

' To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, HENRY STELZMANN, of

Leech Lake, in the county of Cass and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Brick-Machine, of which the following is a full, 7

clear, and exact description.

My invention consists of a locomotive-machine contrived to feed the clay from a tank carried upon it into a device where it is worked preparatory to pressing, and is then passed the removal of the clay-tank when it becomes empty and the substitution of a filled one,

brick-machine. a tion of the machine on the line a: a: of Fig. 3.

is a section on line 2 2, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a l 1 whereby the labor of the temperers, molders, 1 20 and truckers as employed in the common practice may be dispensed with, all as hereinafter fully described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in

which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved Fig. 2 is a sectional eleva- Fig. 3 is a section on line y y, Fig. 1. Fig. 4.

section of the anger or screw employed for pressingthe clay.

The tank a, for holding the clay, the mixer b, screw or auger pressc, pressing-chamber d, cutters e, and dischargers f are mounted on a locomotive-truck, g, which is made to travel about the yard on two rollers, h, and a caster wheel, t, by the power. of an, engine, '3', supplied with steam from the boiler is, and connected to the vertical crank-shaft Z, carrying the horizontal balance-wheel m, andgeared by the bevel-pinion n with the wheelm, which gives motion to a pinion, o, geared with a toothed rim, 1), on one of the rollers h. The caster-wheelz' is geared by the wheel q and pinion s with a hand-staff, t, for suitably guiding the machine about the yard. The tank a is mounted on rollers 16, to be rolled on and off the truck, which has rails o, with which other rails or platforms or bridge planks are to match when the tank is to be shifted. The

said tank is received on the truck between uprights w, on which a feeding-screw, x, is

mounted by vertically-adjusting screws 3 to be gradually lowered into the tank as the clay is delivered therefrom by said screw into the hopper z of the mixer, the feeding'screw being geared with the shaft a, for being rotated by the driving-engine, the screws a being turned by the engineer from time to time with the hand-wheel and shaft b, and the tank having removable plates 0 to open slots at its sides for allowing the shaft of the feed-screw to descend. The shaft of the feed-screw is carried in bearings of cross-heads d, which have screw-threaded lugs e fitted on the screws. One of said cross heads has a chute, f, to throw back any clay that may fall out of the slot of the clay tank on that side, and the other cross-head has a sort of chute, g, for conduct ing' the clay into mixer-hopper z. The bevelwheel h on shaft'a, with which the feed-screw shaft is geared, is made to slide along shaft a as the feed-screw shaft is shifted up and down by an arm, 71, attached to the cross-head d, the said shaft having a feather, j, by which the wheel h is made to revolve whenever it may be along it. The shaft a, which also drives the mixer b and pressing-screw c by shaft and suitable connecting-gears, Z and m, supported by the uprights 10, is geared by a crown-wheel, a, differential pinions 0, shaft 19, and bevel-wheels q with the crank-shaft Z, for operating said mixer and presser by the same motive power that drives the. truck, and at the same time. The crown-wheel n and the pinions o are suitably adjustable on their respective shafts for gearing the crown-wheel with any one of the pinions, as may be desired, for regulating the rate of the delivery of bricks to the speed of the machine along the ground. The cylindrical hopper z is contrived in the laterally-widened and transverselycontracted pressingchamber d, which curves into horizontal discharging passages f equal in depth to the thickness of the bricks, and separated into spaces equal to the width of the bricks by par titions s, which serve for cutters to divide the clay along theedges of the bricks, and a gang of cutters, 0, carried by a cross-bar, a, is employed to divide the clay at the ends of the bricks, said cutters being made to descend at suitable intervals of time through slots in the cover of the discharge-passages. The bricks thus formed are forced out of the machine by the clay behind,and fall gently on the dryingbed of the yard in successive batches, which are delivered suitably distant from each other 7 to prevent any injury by falling in contact tween said spirals, wherein they are pressed down, as the screw turns for resisting the tendency of the clay to adhere to the spirals,

' and be carried around with the screw, instead of being driven downward. At a suitable part of the pressing-screwsay about half a turn of the helix-a radial slot, 2:, is made in it, to allow the abutments to rise-to the startingpoint by the effect of springs aZapplied to the bars w for the purpose. The cutters e, by which the clay is cut to form the ends of the bricks, are mounted in the cross-head u, so as to slide, and with springs b to hold them to their work, but to yield in case the cutters may be resisted by stones or other materials too refractory for them. The cross-head a is operated by the rock-shafts c", to which it is connected by arms (2 and the rock-shafts are operated by the tappet-wheels 0*, geared with the drums h, and having tappets f which thrust the cross-head down by contact with the tappets g on the rock-shafts, and also having tappets h which raise the cross-head by contact with the tappets on the shafts. The tappetsf and h are to be so adjusted in the wheels 6 that the cutters e are made to descend when the clay has been forced the length of a brick beyond them, and to rise after a clearance-space of about an inch between the discharged and coming bricks has accrued. The rock-shafts are provided with a weighted arm, j which falls on the sides of the rock-shafts and holds them in their respective positions in the in tervals between the action of the tappetsf and if. The arms 61 are in this case connected to the cross-head a by pivots Z working in slots of, to allow the arms d to swing in the cross-head when raising it, as represented in Fig. 1; but any other approved arrangement may be substituted for it.

The crank-shaft Z has a pinion, on, above the truck-platform, that may be used in case of need to gear with a ratchet to be connected with the clay-truck in any approved way to utilize the power of the engine for shifting the clay-tank on the truck. The tappet-wheels e are geared with the roller-axles by pinions n and wheels 0".

In practice the dischargers fare to run along the surface of the ground, so that the .bricks will not fall heavily, and it is designed to have the mouth of the dischargers capable of rising and falling to accommodate them to uneven ground, and the rock-shafts 0 will be made in two sections, which will be so coupled as to allow the arms d to swing more or less, according as the dischargers are high or low.

I propose to arrange a steam-pipe from the boiler, and with a perforated section, a, ranging along the sides of the cutters for moistening them with fine jetsof steam, condensing on them, to lubricate them and the clay, to cause them to cut smoothly, and to lessen the friction.

Having thus describedmy invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a clay-tank, clayfeeder, clay-mixer, clay-presser, brick-former, clay-cutters, and dischargers, substantially as herein described, with a locomotive-machine, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, in a brick-machine, of

a locomotive-truck, a removable clay-tank, and feeding, mixing, pressing, cutting, and discharging apparatus, substantially as described.

3. The clay-tank having slotted sides and removable plates 0, in combination with the locomotive-truck having vertically-adj ustable feeding-screw a; and clay mixing, pressing, cutting, and discharging mechanism, substantially as described.

4. The combination of verticallyadjustable feed-screw as, adjusting-screws y, and crossheads d with the clay-tank a, having slotted sides and removable plates 0, and being mounted on the truck, together with the mixing, pressing, cutting, and delivering apparatus, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the vertically-adjustable feed-screw w, cross-heads d, and chutes f g with the clay-tank a, having slotted sides and removable platesc, substantially as described.

6. The combination of clay-tank (1, having rollers a, with the locomotive-truck having rails 22, uprights w, and feed-screw'x, substantially as described. V I

7. The combination of the vertical clay-mixing hopper z, mixer 12, clay-tank a, and feedscrew :0 with a locomotive-truck, said mixer and feed-screw being geared with the motive apparatus, substantially as described.

8. The combination of the vertical claymixing hopper z, mixer 12, pressing-screw c, tank a, and feed-screw a" with a locomotivetruck, said presser, mixer, and feed-screw being geared with the motive apparatus, substantially as described.

9. In a brick-machine, the connected series of sliding cutters 6, arranged in across-head, u, and actuated by suitable mechanism to descend when sufficient clay for a brick has lzsaoaz i 3 passed them, and to rise when said clay has arrived within an inch or so of the preceding brick, as described.

10. The combination of tappet-wheels e rock-shafts 0, arms (1 cross-head u, and cutters e with dischargersf, substantially as described.

11. The combination of a steam-jet pipe a,

a a with the cutters e, having connection with the IO boiler or other source of steam'supply, and arranged to lubricate the cutters and the clay by steam-jets, substantially as described.

a 12. The combination ofthevertical clay-mixing hopper z, mixer b, pressing-screw 0, press 13. The combination of abutments '0 with 20- o the clay-pressing screw, said abutment being movable along the screw, and the screw having a slot or opening, y, substantially as described.

HENRY STELZMANN; Witnesses:

H. J; KING,

E. BENEDICT. 

